See-saw



A. F. PICOU March 23, 1965 SEE-SAW 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 13. 1962 INVENTOR March 23, 1965 cou 3,174,750

SEE-SAW Filed June 13. 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l I l INVENTOR AZZazz Zfa'evzg.

BY 701M 0M ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,174,756 SEE-SAW Allen Felix Picou, 552 Lake Ave, Metairie, La. Filed June 13, 1962, Ser. No. 202,137 Claims. (Cl. 272-30) This invention relates to a unit assembly for operating a see-saw, and rnore particularly to an amusement apparatus which can be operated by children as a combined see-saw and merry-go-round.

In general, the object of this invention is to provide a unit assembly of metal parts which cooperate for supporting a see-saw board through which children can easily and safely operate the supporting unit assembly for obtaining a combined see-saw and merry-go-round.

It is also an object of the invention that the unit supporting assembly be simple of construction and durable.

It is a further object of the invention that the apparatus be free of needed repairs or substitution of new parts over a long period of use.

Other objects relating to the construction and operation of the apparatus will appear later.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical sectional view of the apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a detail sectional view of the assembled gear and pawl unit on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of one face of the pawl carrying gear;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a detail transverse sectional view of the gearpawl unit; and

FIG. 8 is a detailed sectional view illustrating the disk wheels employed to permit rotational movement of the platform or base plate employed in the apparatus.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, 19 is a circular base member having a supporting flange 11 at its upper end which is formed with a circular track 12. Within the flange 11 is positioned the platform 13 which is rotatably supported by a number of disk wheels 14. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, the platform 13 carries a pair of balance wheels fixed to the respective ends of a shaft and adapted to peripherally engage with the lower surface of the flange 16.

The platform 13 is formed with a pair of shaft supporting pedestals 15 each of which is provided at its upper end with an enlargement 16 adapted to serve as a bearing for rotatably supporting an end of the shaft 17.

Each pedestal 15 is also provided with a second enlargement 18 adapted to serve for journaling the stub shafts 19 and 19' whose associated ends are journalled by the extending portions 20' of the shaft 29 (FIG. 7) fixed to a gear wheel 21 within the gear-pawl unit generally indicated by the reference numeral 22.

It should be here noted that each pedestal 15 is preferably formed T-shape vertically thereof as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and that the portion 23 of each pedestal has the bearing enlargements 16 and 18 formed therewith.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the pedestals 15 and associated parts including the see-saw board 24 and platform 13 upon which said pedestals are formed are supported by the peripherally grooved wheels 25 and 25 which are fixed to the outer ends of the stub shafts 19 and 19', respectively. These wheels 25 and 25' rest on the rail 12 and the groove 26 of said. wheels are adapted, as illustrated in FIG. 3, to allow sufficient lateral movement of the wheels on the rail 12 to permit rotation there- 3,174,759 Patented Mar. 23, 1965 of on said rail and thus the entire unit supported by said wheels can be given circular movement.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, the shaft 17 has fixed thereon a semi-circular gear wheel casting 27, its teeth 28 meshing with the teeth of gear wheel 21 in the pawlgear unit 22. Each face of the gear wheel 21 carries a pair of pawls 29 and 29', respectively (FIGS. 4 and 6). Opposing pawls 29 and 29' in each case are pivotally supported by a bolt 30 which extends through suitable holes in the gear wheel 21, as shown in FIG. 7. It should be noted that the gear wheel 21 does not have its entire periphery provided with teeth as illustrated in FIG. 5, i.e., the peripheral portion 21' is without gear teeth.

Each set of pawls 29 and 29 has an anchor coil spring 31 secured by one end to a pin 32 projecting from the associated face of the gear wheel 21, and its opposite end suitably secured to the blunt end of the pawl whereby the gear-tooth end of said pawl on each base is pulled outwardly.

Surrounding each set of pawls 29 and 29' is an annular internal gear box 33 and 33', respectively. Each internal gear box is provided with a hub 34 through which the associated stub shaft of the pawl-gear unit 22 passes and is keyed or otherwise secured thereto, and thus each gear box 33 and 33' can rotate about its associated set of pawls 29 and 29 respectively, in only one direction. As illustrated by FIGURES 4 and 6, the set of pawls 29 permit the gear box 33 and the stub shaft 19 to which it is afiixed, the rotate only in a counter-clockwise direction while the pawls 23' permit the gear box 33' and stub shaft 19 to rotate only in a clockwise direction.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, the semi-circular gear 27 is provided with a plate 27, the length of which is equal to the diameter of said gear wheel. The see-saw board 24 is suitably secured by bolts or otherwise to the plate 27. Each end of the see-saw board is formed with a casing in which operates a rod or plunger with a head 36 fixed to its upper end and a wheel 39 rotatably supported at its lower end, which in turn is resiliently held against upward movement by a coil spring 38.

The apparatus can best be operated by two children of substantially the same weight; one on each end of the see-saw board, as is customary. The unloaded position of the see-saw board 24 and associated parts are shown in full lines in FIGURE 1, including the gear wheel 27. FIGURE 1 also illustrates in dotted lines the one end of the see-saw board 24 and associated parts including the gear wheel 27 when the left end of the see-saw board has been moved to its downward position.

The operation of the amusement apparatus constituting this invention is believed clearly obvious from the foregoing description. Briefly, it is clear that with children seated on the opposite ends of the see-saw board 24 they could in the usual manner cause the gear wheel 27 to oscillate back and forth and thus transmit the necessary power for likewise oscillating the gear wheel 21, which in turn, through the sets of pawls 29 and 29' would rotate their associated gear boxes 33 and 33, respectively, to separately and in sequence rotate in opposite directions the respective wheels 25 and 25' which would in turn cause the entire structure on the platform 13 to rotate in one direction. Thus the children operating the apparatus would enjoy the combined see-saw action of the apparatus as well as a merry-go-round operation.

I claim:

1. A combined see-saw and merry-go-round apparatus comprising a supporting base, a wheel assembly including a pair of opposed rotatably mounted wheels riding on said base in a circular path, said wheels rotating about a first horizontal axis, means for supporting said wheel assembly for rotation about a vertical axis transverse to the a axes of rotation of the individual wheels, a see-saw board, means for supporting said see-saw board for oscillation about a second horizontal axis vertically spaced apart from said first horizontal axis, said see-saw board supporting means rotating together with said wheel assembly about said vertical axis, a gear wheel mounted on said see-saw supporting means for oscillation with said see-saw about said second horizontal axis, drive means interconnecting said gear wheel and said wheels to rotate one of said wheels as said board oscillates in one direction and to rotate the other of said wheels as said board oscillates in the opposite direction to thereby rotate said see-saw on said supporting base as the see-saw oscillates.

2. A combined see-saw and merry-go-round apparatus according to claim 1, including a wheelresiliently mounted near each end of said board, each wheel riding on the ground as the corresponding end of the see-saw board approaches its lowest point in the oscillatory movement.

3. A combined see-saw and merry-go-round apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said drive means includes a gear in engagement with said gear Wheel, internal gear means on each side of said gear, pawl means on one side of said gear for engaging the teeth of the internal gear means on the same side of said gear to cause rotation thereof when said gear rotates in one direction and pawl means on the other side of said gear for engaging the teeth of the internal gear means on said other side to cause rotation thereof when the gear rotates in the opposite direction, said wheels being interconnected with said internal gear means for rotation therewith.

4. A combined see-saw and merry-go-round apparatus accoording to claim 3, wherein said means for supporting said see-saw board includes a platform, frame members mounted on said platform, a horizontal shaft supported by said frame members, said horizontal shaft defining said second horizontal axis, said gear wheel be ing mounted on said shaft and said see-saw board, being mounted on said gear wheel.

5. A combined see-saw and merry-go-round apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said Wheels are mounted on aligned shafts journaled to said frame members, said shafts defining said first horizontal axis, said internal gear means being secured to said shafts for rotation therewith.

References Cited by the Examiner V UNITED STATES PATENTS 670,706 3/01 Ernst 272-43 2,769,635 11/56 Docken 272 RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner. DELBERT B. LOWE, Examiner. 

1. A COMBINED SEE-SAW AND MERRY-GO-ROUND APPARATUS COMPRISING A SUPPORTING BASE, A WHEEL ASSEMBLY INCLUDING A PAIR OF OPPOSED ROTATABLY MOUNTED WHEELS RIDING ON SAID BASE IN A CIRCULAR PATH, SAID WHEELS ROTATING ABOUT A FIRST HORIZONTAL AXIS, MEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID WHEEL ASSEMBLY FOR ROTATION ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS TRANSVERSE TO THE AXES OF ROTATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL WHEELS, A SEE-SAW BOARD, MEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID SEE-SAW BOARD FOR OSCILLATION ABOUT A SECOND HORIZONTAL AXIS VERTICALLY SPACED APART FROM SAID FIRST HORIZONTAL AXIS, SAID SEE-SAW BOARD SUPPORTING MEANS ROTATING TOGETHER WITH SAID WHEEL ASSEMBLY ABOUT SAID VERTICAL AXIS, A GEAR WHEEL MOUNTED ON SAID SEE-SAW SUPPORTING MEANS FOR OSCILLATION WITH SAID SEE-SAW ABOUT SAID SECOND HORIZONTAL AXIS, DRIVE MEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID GEAR WHEEL AND SAID WHEELS TO ROTATE ONE OF SAID WHEELS AS SAID BOARD OSCILLATES IN ONE DIRECTION AND TO ROTATE THE OTHER OF SAID WHEELS AS SAID BOARD OSCILLATES IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION TO THEREBY ROTATE SAID SEE-SAW ON SAID SUPPORTING BASE AS THE SEE-SAW OSCILLATES. 